On 19 July, a proposed new Belgian Nationality law passed the Belgian Parliament’s Justice Committee with a large majority from left, right, and centre (see previous news item). It was voted in the plenary session on 25 October 2012 and is likely to come into force on 1 January 2013. This new law toughens the conditions for granting Belgian citizenship. Applicants should be living in Belgium as long-term residents. There are now two naturalisation procedures: a “fast” procedure will take 5 years and will apply to those who meet the language, social and economic requirements. The second will take 10 years.

To access the “fast” procedure, candidates should already be linguistically, socially, and economically integrated before they apply. They should have knowledge of French, Dutch or German. Also, they should have worked at least 468 days over the past 5 years.

The Chamber of Representatives can also grant citizenship after 3 years for “exceptional” merits in the area of sciences, sports or culture.

Read the article on rtbf.be (in French)